I am the owner of Hyundai Accent with a diesel engine. After very cold nights, the mornings are a nightmare. The engine starts fine but a light for check up is on most of time on board, and after gear 3 the engine dies. This is happening ONLY after a very cold night; when temperature is +1 and over everything is ok...any suggestions?

+1F? or +1C? I'm gonna assume that you're an American, so that's a cold start problem. If you can get code scanner, you may be able to see what kind of codes the ECU is throwing out. -17C (+1F) is pretty cold, I'm wondering if the diesel side of things is making it harder... As an aside, does it have a block heater? If it does, does it help if you used it to keep it warm before starting?
– CalythDec 15 '14 at 17:25

I would suggest this is not an American car, as I don't think I've ever seen a diesel version of the Accent here in the States. Just a guess on my part. Since I used to sell Hyundais, we never had one on the lot, I'd think it's a pretty good bet.
– Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2♦Dec 15 '14 at 22:00

1 Answer
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Faulty glow plugs may be the case, but you can tell that from the way your engine works. If upon start your engine is shaking (not working very stable) or your revs are a bit jumpy, then it may indicate that fuel in some cylinders are not burned.

If this really is the cause, then after starting the engine try leaving it idle for few minutes. Glow plugs are needed only to heat up cylinders on start, after some time they get hot from all explosions and diesel does not need them anymore (diesel explodes from compression and high temperatures).

Faulty glow plug may also produce smoke (white smoke / unburned fuel) but in cold weather it is hard to know since there will be much more steam coming too.